Posted By admin On November 29, 2012 @ 12:25 pm In General News,Montebello,Montebello Comet | No Comments

Most people just throw their old mail away without a second thought, but some take the time and precaution to shred documents containing personal information at home in hopes of protecting themselves from identity theft.

Dominic Hebert hands Fernando Gonzalez a bag filled with paper, that he wants destroyed at the mobile shredder in Montebello on Tuesday. (EGP photo by Nancy Martinez)

But this week in Montebello, some local residents took advantage of a third option, taking bags full of documents to a mobile shredder where they were able to get rid of their stacks of papers in seconds.

Montebello’s Community Service Coordinator Crystal Jaimez helped organize the shredding event that allowed residents and businesses to recycle their documents for free. Although the turnout for the event was low, Jaimez told EGP she hopes the city hosts another shredding event in the near future.

“We had a couple of phone calls throughout the year from residents asking about shredding so we figured it was something the community would want,” Jaimez told EGP. “We’re trying to bring more recycling events and different programs to the community.”

Those residents who attended the event were able to watch their documents get shredded within seconds, ensuring their personal documents were safely discarded.

The representative for Shred-it, the company that securely discarded the documents, told EGP that their shredding service is safer and environmentally friendlier than simply shredding documents at home.

“Usually, when you do your own shredding, you just dump it in the trash …we recycle all the shredding we do,” Fernando Gonzalez said. “And you don’t have to worry about it getting into the wrong person’s hands.”

Patricia Angulo showed up at the event with documents she said she had been holding on to since 1997.

“I wanted to get rid of a bunch of stuff and make sure that its private because of security reasons, since there’s lot of identity theft,” said Angulo.

Residents who were unable to attend the event are urged by Gonzalez to properly and securely dispose of anything that contains personal information like social security numbers, medical records, adding that residents will also be able to throw away old mail or catalogs in an environmentally way at the next shredding event.

“We’re trying to see if we could bring in some mobile shredding machines into a couple of different departments within the city,” Jaimez said. “We’re hoping to host another shredding event sometime in the next year.”

For more information about Montebello’s recycling events, call (323) 887-4540.